


That Time That Nora Made a Plan (and It Went About As Well as You'd Expect)

by Newt



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newt/pseuds/Newt
Summary: In order to help a very jet lagged Pyrrha, Nora makes a plan to keep all of Teams RWBY and JNPR awake for twenty-four hours. What follows includes dangerous amounts of marshmallow push-ups, spicy sauce, uno, dancing, angry cats, swordfish, parkour battles, sheet wrestling, and fully exhausted young defenders of the world.This is 100% friendship fluff, but maybe there could be some relationship hints if you want there to be.





	

**Hour 1**

“Do you think she’s dead?” 

Nora rolled over, and gave the bed two swift kicks with her heels.

“I do not,” said Ren, not even looking up from the book he was reading.

Nora wasn’t so sure about that. Pyrrha had been sleeping for way too long, and everything was boring.

Nora stretched out her arms and legs toward the ceiling, then launched herself out of bed and into a perfect landing on the carpet of the JNPR dorm. She held her hands in the air, relishing in her victory.

She padded over to where Pyrrha was sleeping, watching closely, making sure her blankets were still rising and falling with her breaths. 

Yep. All good.

She turned away from Pyrrha and back towards Ren. She stared at him, trying to put so much power in her gaze that he would actually, physically feel it. He flipped the page of his book, pretending not to notice her.

“I’m so bored!” Nora announced, as if it was a problem that he was required to fix.

He continued to ignore her, but his eyes weren’t moving so he totally wasn’t even reading his dumb book. Well, there was only one way to handle this.

“I’m gonna wake her up!” Nora said, turning back towards Pyrrha.

Ren clicked his tongue.

“Nora, be kind.”

“This is kind! This is the kindest thing I can do for her! She has to get used to this time zone again before school starts up.”

Pyrrha had been visiting her family in Mistral for the past week, and her first day back, a day that was totally meant to be full of tons of fun team activities, had turned into a day of them all trying to be quiet and let her rest. It was boring, and Nora was over it. All she needed now was to get Ren on board.

Ren sighed, finally looking up from the page and at Nora. But he didn’t say no. It was all the permission Nora needed.

“Hey, Pyrrha…” 

Nora reached out and lightly shook Pyrrha’s arm.

Pyrrha took in a sharp breath, immediately snapping awake. She mumbled a half-sentence, flailing around a bit before realizing it was just Nora and there was no need to go on the offensive.

Nora grinned, leaning over her.

“Good morning sleepy head! Actually it’s not morning. It’s, like, eight pm or something. Anyway, you’ve been sleeping since you got here and I think that’s a bad idea. School starts the day after tomorrow.”

Pyrrha looked a little confused, trying to process this word barrage after her rude awakening. She eventually settled on just throwing her blanket over her head.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad! Just stay awake for a little while and then…”

All at once, Nora got the single greatest idea that anyone had ever had ever. It just appeared, in full form, ready for a super amazingly awesomely good time.

“Ren! Idea!” she shouted, wheeling around to face him. 

He recognized the look on her face, and grudgingly put the book down.

“We’re all gonna help Pyrrha clear up her jet lag!” she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Ren blinked. There had to be a catch.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me how we’re gonna do it?”

“Okay. How are we going to do it?” asked Ren, honestly fearing the answer.

“We’re all going to stay up with her! For a full day! Twenty four hours!” said Nora, throwing a fist in the air. She paused, as if waiting for his approval.

“You really don’t have to do that,” came Pyrrha’s muffled voice from under the blanket.

“Well of course we don’t, silly! We do these things because we’re your friends!” 

Nora lovingly ripped the blanket off of Pyrrha, exposing her to the harsh world.

“Nora, that plan makes no sense,” said Ren bluntly. “All that will do is make everyone involved a lot more tired.”

Pyrrha nodded furiously.

“Ugh, I have to explain everything,” said Nora, crossing her arms. “Obviously if we all stay up until nighttime tomorrow we’ll all sleep at the same time, and then be totally well-rested for school the next day.”

Ren and Pyrrha eyed each other, each one daring the other to challenge her. Pyrrha cracked first.

“Nora, I don’t think…”

She was interrupted by the door swinging open, a fully onesie-clad Jaune strolling in with toothbrush and toothpaste in hand.

Nora turned on him.

“Jaune! You’re already in your PYJAMAS?”

He paused mid-step, glancing at Pyrrha to try to read the situation. She shrugged apologetically.

“Um… yes?” he said, glancing down at Pumpkin Pete’s smiling bunny face.

“Well, whatever,” said Nora, striding towards him in three enormous steps. “Let’s go!”

She grabbed Jaune by the elbow, pulling him back towards the door. She threw it open, glancing back at Ren and Pyrrha, each still staring at her motionlessly.

“Go… where?” asked Ren.

“We can’t do this alone!” said Nora mysteriously, and then she was gone, Jaune flailing after her.

Pyrrha threw back her covers and followed, padding across the carpet in her bare feet. Ren followed cautiously. 

The door clicked shut behind them, and they spotted Nora across the hall, one hand banging open-palmed on the door of Team RWBY’s dorm, and the other still clutching at Jaune’s pyjama sleeve. He shot Ren and Pyrrha another frantically confused look.

Team RWBY’s door half-opened, revealing Yang.

“Oh, hey guys. What’s up?”

Nora finally let go of Jaune’s arm, latching onto Yang’s instead. He rubbed at his elbow as Weiss and Ruby gathered behind Yang.

“What are you guys doing right now?” asked Nora, a devilish smile breaking across her face.

“Well, uh, we were just getting ready for bed and…”

“No you’re not!” said Nora, flinging her hands in the air. “And…”

She gasped.

“Are those PYJAMAS I see? Don’t you know what tonight is?”

Yang looked pointedly at Jaune’s onesie. He frowned and folded his arms over the bunny.

“What’s tonight?” asked Ruby, pushing in beside Yang.

“Only the greatest, most fun night in the history of Beacon Academy!” said Nora. “Pyrrha just got back from Mistral, so we need to keep her awake for a full day to set her clock back on track. It’s gonna be great! And you’re all invited!”

They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, processing her request. 

“That’s… not how that works,” said Weiss, crossing her arms. Ruby nodded.

“It does sound fun though,” said Ruby, almost apologetically.

“Yeah, we’re in,” said Yang, giving Nora a thumbs up of supreme approval.

“We’re what?” asked Weiss, head snapping to attention.

“It’ll be fun, like a slumber party,” said Yang. “I’ll share some snacks.”

“Oooh, snacks!” said Ruby, already bouncing a bit with excitement.

“Do Blake and I have any say in this?” asked Weiss, desperately tugging at her pyjama sleeves.

“Say in what?”

Blake appeared in the doorway, a book pressed against her chest.

“Augh, even Blake with the pyjamas,” said Nora, putting a hand to her heart.

She looked around at the four sets of pyjamas on Team RWBY, Pyrrha’s simple tank top and sweatpants, and finished with a long look at Jaune’s onesie. His grip tightened around his toothpaste.

“Well, Ren, we’re outnumbered,” she said. “Pyjama party it is!”

She took Ren by the hand and unlocked the door to the JNPR dorm, dragging Ren in after her. The remaining six just looked at each other, taken aback.

“That’s seriously not how jet lag works,” said Weiss softly.

“I’m sorry,” said Pyrrha, embarrassed that she had basically started this mess.

“Don’t be sorry,” said Jaune, waving his toothbrush in dismissal. “Like Yang said, it’ll be fun.”

Pyrrha nodded slowly.

“I… hope you’re right.”

**Hour 2**

Blake walked into the common room, clutching a small bag of grapes.

Everyone was already settled in, sitting and lying around in a circle on the carpet. The TV was on, playing some kind of sitcom with an obnoxious laugh track. 

“This is all the kitchen had for me,” she said, throwing her grapes onto the pile of snacks and games in the middle of the circle.

“Healthy,” groaned Nora, sticking her tongue out. Blake ignored her.

“Thanks, Blake,” said Ruby, patting the ground next to her. Blake eyed the dog curled up in Ruby’s lap, and chose to sit on the opposite side of the circle instead. She knelt down, and Ruby frowned slightly before going back to their game. 

Pictionary was already in progress, a sheet in the middle sporting a few doodles of ugly and misshapen things. The one good drawing, obviously Ren’s, was a photorealistic goldfish taking up two thirds of the page. Jaune drew a card.

“Of course I get something hard to draw” he said, grimacing. 

“Let me see,” said Nora, shuffling over to him.

“Not allowed!” said Ruby, thrusting an arm in between them. Jaune leaned back to avoid her.

“Okay, here goes…”

He stuck the card under his leg, then leaned forward, scribbling on the paper until his pen started working.

He drew a curved line.

“A noodle!” yelled Nora immediately. 

Jaune shook his head. It was not a noodle. 

He continued to sketch, Nora yelling out more and more ridiculous things as he went.

“A football! A duck! A graveyard! Ooh, is it a fish again? No, that’s not a fish, too square. Is it a square? Two squares? A box? TWO BOXES?”

“Nora you’re making me nervous,” said Jaune, pausing. 

“Work with the pressure!” she said, tilting her head to get a better view.

“Is it, like, some kind of weird building?” offered Ruby.

“Uh, no. Wait…”

He drew some circles underneath it.

“Something on rocks? A turtle with eggs?” asked Yang, poking her tongue out in concentration.

“No… ugh… wait…” 

He scribbled the drawing out and started again. He was one line in when Pyrrha spoke up.

“Was it a truck?”

“Yes! Thank you!” said Jaune, dropping the pen and leaning back again. 

Ruby giggled.

“What kind of truck looks like THAT?”

“Hey, I never claimed to be an artist,” said Jaune, shrugging.

“It was a beautiful truck, Jaune,” said Pyrrha, hiding a laugh behind her hand.

“Yeah, I know. My genius just isn’t appreciated around here.”

“Ooh, here’s a good one!” said Yang, palming a new card.

They played a few rounds around the circle, until eventually four whole sheets were covered in doodles. On Weiss’ third turn, she didn’t draw a card.

“Okay, should we play another one of these games?” she asked, eyeing the pile.

There was general agreement. Jaune reached for a game.

“Well, I seem to recall that I am still the reigning compost king in…”

“An actually interesting game?” Weiss interrupted. 

Jaune slumped and Ruby gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.

“What about something simple?” asked Blake. “We’ve got… I don’t know, uno?”

“No!” said Pyrrha, eyes wide. Ren shook his head furiously. Jaune actually gasped. Even Nora was side-eyeing the pack of uno cards. Blake withdrew her hand from where she was reaching towards the game.

“Woah, what did uno ever do to you guys?” asked Yang.

“Three hours,” mumbled Ren. Yang frowned in confusion.

“What if we play a game that doesn’t involve cards or anything?” suggested Pyrrha, grimacing.

Blake couldn’t help but feel like she’d triggered some horrible memory.

“Oooh!” said Nora, perking up immediately. “What about truth or dare?”

“Yes!” said Yang, pumping a fist in the air. “I’m the best at this game.”

**Hour 3**

“Okay, so everyone draw a card, one to eight, and then whatever number you get is the person who gets to truth or dare you. We’ll go in order of teams… RWBY then JNPR.”

Yang shuffled the eight cards as she talked, then slid one to each of them across the carpet. It didn’t work very well, and there was a lot of leaning over people to collect cards that stuck.

“Why can’t it be JNPR and then RWBY?” asked Nora, picking up her card. 

“Because in the story of our life, you guys are the side characters,” said Ruby wisely, choosing her own card.

“We are not side characters!” said Jaune.

“You’re pretty much side characters,” agreed Yang.

“I’m so hurt!” said Nora, falling backwards into a cushion she’d pulled off the couch specifically for dramatic-falling-back purposes.

“Fine, we go in RWBY-JNPR order, but team JNPR gets to go first. How about that?” asked Yang.

“We always used to start with whoever was sitting closest to the door,” said Jaune. 

“Well either way that’s Pyrrha,” Weiss pointed out. Pyrrha blinked.

“Oh, um, sure. I’ll start,” she said, glancing at her card.

“Alright!” said Nora, bouncing in place. “Who’ve you got?”

“Four, so that’s… Yang?” asked Pyrrha, glancing at her across the circle.

Yang twisted her hands excitedly.

“Okay, hit me with your worst!”

Pyrrha blinked.

“Um… okay. How… exactly do you play this game?”

“What?” Ruby’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never played truth or dare before?”

“The opportunity never really came up, I’m afraid.”

Pyrrha looked away, embarrassed.

“Well you start by asking me truth or dare,” said Yang, diverting everyone’s attention away from Pyrrha.

“Okay, well, truth or dare?” asked Pyrrha, smiling.

“Dare, of course!” said Yang.

There was a silence.

“Now you dare her to do something,” whispered Ruby from across the circle.

“Ah, let me think,” said Pyrrha, bringing her knuckles to her mouth. “Okay… what about… I dare you to do forty push ups.”

“Lame!” said Nora.

“Oh, was it bad?” asked Pyrrha. “I can maybe think of something better…”

“No, I’ll make it interesting,” said Yang, standing up and stretching. “How about… fifty push ups, but Ruby’s sitting on top of me and every time I do one she puts another one of these mini marshmallows in my mouth?”

Yang shook the bag of mini marshmallows that someone had brought.

“Yes!” Ruby cheered, jumping to her feet. Zwei fell off her lap, and barked once to show his anger. He wandered off to sleep somewhere else.

“That sounds dangerous!” said Pyrrha. She stood up also, but more out of alarm than anything else.

With astonishing speed, Ruby and Yang got into position. 

“Blake, count for me, would you?” asked Yang, grinning widely at her.

Blake rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Sure.”

It began. Yang’s form was perfect, and every push up seemed to take no effort for her. A brawler’s arms are her most important weapon, after all. Ruby seemed to be the one with the real challenge, struggling to stay on Yang’s back while leaning to put a marshmallow in her mouth. After about marshmallow twenty, she had the added difficulty of avoiding touching the spitty marshmallows escaping from Yang’s mouth.

With every push up, Blake’s counting got a little quieter, Nora’s cheering got a little louder, and Ruby’s regret grew. Pyrrha, Jaune, and Weiss looked on in horror. Ren had his scroll open with the emergency number pre-typed in.

“38… 39… um, Yang?”

Yang was making slight choking noises, but still wouldn’t give up on the push ups. Ruby almost stopped with the marshmallows, but Yang made loud hacking noises and stopped the push ups until Ruby began again, biting her bottom lip in fear. 

After marshmallow fifty Yang immediately rolled onto her side, coughing marshmallows all over the common room floor.

“Yang, are you alright?” asked Pyrrha, rushing over to her. She felt partially responsible for the whole mess. 

Ruby stood over Yang as well, rubbing her back.

After a bit of a coughing fit, Yang raised a weak thumbs up. Nora cheered.

“Okay, who’s next?” she asked, scanning the circle. “Are we going clockwise? Duh, of course we are. Okay so next to Pyrrha is Jaune. Yang, Ruby, you guys come back to the circle whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m READY,” said Yang, weakly. This triggered another coughing fit.

“Okay, well, I have the two, so… Weiss,” said Jaune, fidgeting with the edge of his card. 

Weiss frowned. This could not be good. If she chose truth, he’d ask something dumb about her love life. But what if she chose dare and it was something equally dumb? It was true that he hadn’t really been pursuing her since the dance, but she definitely didn’t want to encourage him.  
Weiss decided to let her pride at following up Yang win out over her past with Jaune. Weiss Schnee was not the kind of person who chickened out of a dare.

“Okay, well, dare then,” she announced, staring him dead in the eyes.

Without even thinking, Jaune drew on his seventeen years of experience with seven sisters.

“Eat a tablespoon of hot sauce,” he said, then, realizing what he’d said, he backpedalled. “I mean, if we even have any. That might be dumb, can I change it?”

“Absolutely not!” said Weiss. “I’ll do it.”

Weiss stood up, and everyone followed her lead to the kitchen. Even Yang was well enough now to catch this spectacle.

Feeling every eye on her, Weiss opened the fridge, looking for any kind of spicy sauce. Her gaze settled on a small bottle of self-proclaimed “hot hot HOT sauce”, with a piece of masking tape on it that read “Yatsuhashi’s – please do not use”. She ignored this, sticking fifteen lien in the place of the bottle. She’d put the rest of it back when this was all over, anyway.

Next she searched through the messy baking drawer for the measuring spoons, locating one tablespoon. She poured at eye-level over the sink, careful to collect an exact tablespoon of the repulsive red sauce. 

Weiss Schnee was not the kind of person who backed out of a dare, but Weiss Schnee was also not the kind of person who enjoyed any sort of spice in her food. Honestly, black pepper was sometimes too much for her. She took her meals extra-mild. Anything above basic spice levels required a tall glass of milk and at least one person to complain to for the next fifteen or twenty minutes.

So when Weiss Schnee ate the sauce, she felt the grip of death crawling down her throat and up her nose. Her tongue was on fire. When she blinked, tears rolled down her face. 

“Woah, are you okay?” said a voice from the end of the tunnel.

There was some general mumbling as she swallowed it all, her throat ripped raw. And then, everything snapped back into excruciating focus. 

She threw the bottle of hot hot HOT sauce away from her, then pounded the countertop with her palms, eyes squeezed shut. There were some high-pitched noises involved.

Throwing open the fridge door, Weiss located a tub of yogurt, and poured it directly into her mouth, then hunched over.

“My yogurt,” said Ruby, sadly.

Weiss finally looked up to see seven faces staring at her with varying levels of discomfort and fear. Jaune, the perpetrator himself, was pale as a sheet.

“That was… not pleasant,” said Weiss, straightening up. Mouth still burning, she calmly returned the yogurt and sauce to the fridge, then brushed her hands together to signal the end of this little event.

“Good job Weiss,” said Yang, clapping her on the back. Weiss just nodded, still trying to work her way through the pain.

The eight of them made their way back to the common room, plunking themselves down in the same circle as before.

“Okay, well I’m next,” said Nora, waving her card in the air. “And I’m number one! So that’s you, Ruby.”

Ruby grinned.

“I’ll do a dare too, then.”

“I like your guts, Rose!” said Nora, pointing at her. “Well, lucky for you, my dare is pretty simple. I just…”

She took a deep breath.

“I just reallyreally want to see your semblance in action! It’s so cool, you know? So you should go outside so we can see you from the window and run all over the place. I want to see rose petals flying everywhere!”

Ruby looked a little disappointed.

“Oh, okay. Sure.”

She stood up, taking the sleeping mask off her head and dropping it next to Yang.

Nora and the others gathered around the window while Ruby walked down the hall and towards the main exit. After a few minutes, she was outside, waving at them from the floor below. Nora waved back, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Ruby took off, rose petals scattering as she blurred into a reddish cloud and did a couple laps of the courtyard. Nora waved her arms in the air, cheering her on. It was, admittedly, cool as heck.  
There was the distant sound of a door and, just like that, Ruby was back among them, rose petals trailing into the room.

“That was amazing!” said Nora. “Oh my gosh, just so cool!”

Colour rose in Ruby’s cheeks, and she stuck out her tongue.

“It was more fun when she was a kid,” said Yang. “Lots of tripping. Definitely not as cool as it is now.”

“Hey!”

Ruby kicked Yang lightly, and she laughed. 

They reformed the circle, all complimenting Ruby on her semblance, expect for Weiss, who was only now starting to regain feeling in her tongue, and was kind of upset that Ruby’s dare had been so simple, especially coming from Nora.

“Oh, and I’m next in the circle, too,” said Ruby, glancing around.

“Take it away, sister,” said Yang, leaning back against the couch.

“Okay, well mine’s a five, so that’s Jaune.”

Jaune blinked.

“Oh, me? Dare then.”

There was no way Jaune was going to be the first one to pick truth. He was way too manly for that.

“I dare you to….” Ruby tapped a finger against her chin. “You have to… sneak into Professor Oobleck’s office and bring back proof!”

There was a stunned silence. 

“What? Too much?” asked Ruby, shrinking.

“No! I’ll do it!” said Jaune, standing up and adjusting his onesie with determination.

“Glynda’s gonna get mad at the whole team again,” wailed Nora, lunging forward and planting herself face-down on the floor.

“Not if I don’t get caught!” said Jaune, crossing his arms over his chest. Pumpkin Pete’s face squished inward menacingly.

“This doesn’t seem like a good idea,” said Blake, eyeing Ruby. Ruby was definitely regretting her dare now, both hands over her mouth and eyes wide.

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll just go get a sticky note or something,” said Jaune, turning towards the door.

“Wait! I’ll come with you,” said Pyrrha, jumping up and reaching towards him.

“What? Why? We don’t both need to get in trouble.”

“I can help you,” she said, bringing her hands to her chest. 

Jaune stood there for a moment, considering.

“Yeah, okay. If that’s alright with everyone else?”

Everyone looked relieved. Nora gave a thumbs up from the floor, not lifting her head.

The two left and came back in a really impressively short amount of time. Ruby barely had time to absorb all of the worried stares before Jaune thundered back through the door, Pyrrha in tow.

“Here it is! Paper clip!”

He tossed the paper clip into the circle, swelling with pride.

“Booooo,” said Nora, rolling over to finally face the world. “Pyrrha could’ve got that with her semblance from anywhere in the building.”

Pyrrha blushed.

“Nora Valkyrie, are you accusing our lovely teammate of faking a very important dare?” asked Jaune, putting his fists on his hips.

Nora stared at Pyrrha, eyes narrowing. Pyrrha fidgeted and looked away.

“Yes,” Nora decided.

“I’m next,” said Weiss, waving her card through the air. Anything to break the tension. “I have Ren.”

Ren nodded at her.

“Truth.”

Jaune sat down, deflating. Ren was just so effortlessly cool, even when asking for the first truth of the night. This was honestly unfair. Pyrrha took her seat next to Jaune again.

“Um, well, it’s not a truth, per say, but there’s something I have been wondering,” said Weiss, shrugging.

“I will answer it with as much honesty as I am capable of,” said Ren, mouth drawn into a serious line.

“Okay, so how do you make it so your hair always looks so good? Taking care of long hair is such a pain.”

Nora groaned, and Ruby laid back on the ground, exiting the conversation. 

“Samurai brand shampoo, two washes every other day. Plus good quality conditioner, and a gentle brush,” said Ren, not breaking eye contact. Weiss nodded, taking note.

“Unless you’re talking about the pink. Nora dyed it most recently. It’s never been this light before.”

“Ha, yeah I did!” said Nora. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

“I do like it,” said Ren, smiling softly at her. She covered her face and twisted towards Yang. 

“So, uh, you next, Yang!” 

“Awesome! I got Blake,” she grinned, throwing her three card into the centre. It landed in the bowl of popcorn Ruby was hoarding, and she scowled. 

“Okay,” said Blake. “Truth.”

Yang pressed a hand to her heart in fake shock.

“What? But my dares are legendary!”

Blake eyed the marshmallow gunk still on the carpet.

“Firmly truth,” she said.

Yang elbowed her.

“No, you didn’t get it. Legen-DARE-y. Like, dares. It’s not funny when you explain it!”

She held up her right hand for Weiss to high five, and Weiss obliged.

Blake fought back a grin.

“That was… not good. Anyway, truth?” She asked. Yang punched her lightly in the arm.

“This may be kind of insensitive, but I’ve always wondered… you have four ears, right? Do they all work? Do you have, like, super good hearing or is it just normal?”

Blake sighed, then broke into a smile. There was a collective sigh of relief.

“I mean, everything I hear through these ears is kind of muffled by the bow at the moment,” she said, giving her cat ears a wiggle. “But I guess I can hear pretty well.” 

“That’s so awesome!” said Ruby, leaning forward. “So if I, like, go say something in the kitchen would you be able to hear it and say what it was?”

She looked ready to jump up and try.

“Probably not, no. And this was just a truth, remember?” asked Blake, looking away. 

“Okay, fine. You’re next anyway,” said Ruby, helping herself to more popcorn.

“Oh, right. I have Pyrrha,” said Blake, revealing her seven.

“Oh! Okay. I’ll go for a dare,” said Pyrrha, grinning. Blake’s brow furrowed.

“Uh, I don’t know. You could… drink a whole can of soda? We have some here that nobody’s opened.”

“Lame,” said Nora, crossing her arms.

“No! I mean, I’ve never drank soda before. I think it’s a good dare, Blake,” said Pyrrha, nodding.

Blake smiled in thanks, and passed her a can. Pyrrha held it up, a little afraid. 

“Okay, how do I…”

Jaune reached across and opened it for her, patting her arm. The drink fizzed menacingly.

“I think you should drink it all in one go,” said Yang, bouncing her crossed legs. 

“Oh,” Pyrrha fought to keep her smile. “Sure.”

Growing weary of everyone’s eyes on her, she began. After two gulps she started to cough, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

“Ouch! Is it supposed to hurt your nose like… ah, it’s weird!”

“You’re drinking it wrong,” said Yang. 

Pyrrha had no idea how you could possibly drink something “wrong”. She fought through the pain, finishing the drink in six more gulps.

She placed the can on the floor, then wiped at her teary eyes. 

“I don’t think I like soda,” she said, finally.

“Are you okay?” asked Jaune. Everyone was glancing at each other a little nervously.

“Yes! I’m fine. It’s just… so weird.”

She sat back up, laughing. And just like that, the sugar and caffeine hit her system. She felt it all in a rush, and her knee started bouncing uncontrollably.

“I’ve got Nora,” announced Ren, placing his six on the carpet in front of him. “And I dare Nora to choose another game before someone kills themselves.”

“Awww.”

**Hour 4**

Ruby hugged Yang, trembling. She couldn’t look out the darkened window, or face her teammates, or do much of anything except beg for protection from the outside world.

“That was… really scary,” said Blake, hugging her torso.

Ren shrugged.

“It was a pretty common ghost story we told at our old school. Right, Nora?”

Nora was clutching a pillow to her chest, knuckles white.

“Ren, I think you won the scary story competition.”

Weiss nodded, whimpering.

Jaune was curled into a ball against the couch, trying to look cool as Pyrrha sat on the arm of the couch above him, shoulders hunched and eyes wide. Her eyes had been like that for a while now, though, probably due to unexpected caffeine high. She was rocking back and forth a little.

“How about we put on a movie?” asked Yang, gently peeling Ruby off of her. “Something funny? Ease the mood a little?”

“No, Yang! Don’t leave me,” squealed Ruby, hugging Yang’s ankle as she stood up.

“It’s just for a second, dear sister!” said Yang, raising a fist in mock bravery.

“I’ll await your heroic return,” whispered Ruby, curling up next to Weiss instead. Weiss took a look at her, then threw her arms around her, tears forming in her eyes. Ruby hugged her back.

“Never mind, I don’t need you.”

Yang gasped, faking hurt, then turned back to the DVD stand.

“Okay, um, how about this one? Something about four guys finding an alien crash site and saving the world with magical suits? It sounds just dumb enough to be funny.”

“Ha, yeah,” agreed Ruby.

“Aw, I liked that one,” said Jaune, fluffing up a pillow and preparing himself. 

**Hour 5**

“Hey, Blake! Are you asleep?” whispered Nora, loudly so she could be heard over the sound of lasers firing on the TV.

“What? No. I’m awake.”

“Oh. It looked like your eyes were closed.”

“Must be the angle you’re sitting at.”

Blake’s voice was low and crackly, the sound of someone on the brink of sleep.

Pyrrha shook Jaune as he started to drool. Probably too many times. She was pretty twitchy. Jaune awoke with a start.

Ruby shoveled another half-hearted fist of popcorn into her lulled-open mouth. She was down to almost entirely kernels now, and she didn’t know how long she could last after the popcorn was gone.

“Ren, are you asleep?” whispered Nora, poking him with her toe. He was lying next to her, sharing a blanket with his arms under his head. No response.

“Ren!” she kicked him a little harder. Still nothing.

“That’s it!” said Nora, throwing the blanket off of them both. She jumped to her feet and turned off the TV. Ren woke up with a spectacular “snork” kind of sound. He tilted his head up to face her with a look of pure confusion.

“Ren, we’re going out!” announced Nora. She started fidgeting. “Well I mean, not just you and me, and not like THAT, anyway… that’d just be weird… I meant we’re going out, out of the school. A night on the town! All of us! We’ll take the first late night ship to Vale and find some really fun stuff to do.”

She looked away from Ren, who was still squinting in the light, to face the rest of them.

Everyone looked a little dazed, so she decided on tough love, going around to each of them individually and removing their pillows and blankets.

“Come on, now.”

Jaune tried to hold onto his pillow, but lost the battle.

“Let’s go!”

Pyrrha nodded half-heartedly and stretched.

“It’ll be so fun!”

Ruby nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Get dressed and let’s go!”

Weiss groaned as the blanket was ripped off of her.

“Meet outside in fifteen minutes!”

Nora ignored Blake’s glare as she wrestled her pillow away.

By the time she got to Yang, everyone was more or less moving. Yang stood and stretched, yawning widely.

“What are we going to do in town at this time of night?” asked Weiss, crabby from having being woken up so violently.

Yang grinned at her, stretching her arms.

“Aw, come on Weiss. It just takes a little imagination, is all.”

Within fifteen minutes they were all more or less awake and ready to go, huddled outside the school in scarves and jackets as their breaths misted in the streetlights’ glow. The air was sharp in their lungs, waking up the less-than-enthusiastic Weiss, Ren, and Blake, and energizing the excited Nora, Yang, and Ruby. They reached the airship loading dock, and huddled together.

Ruby pulled her cloak over her ears, rubbing her hands together. She spun the cylindrical ship schedule, trying to line up the weekday with the hour. 

“It says…. Uh…”

Pyrrha gently took control of the schedule, tracing it with a finger.

“The next ship leaves in fifteen minutes,” she announced. She was admittedly quite excited about this little nighttime adventure. She’d never seen Vale at night before.

“I never knew ships ran this late,” said Blake, crossing her arms to keep her hands warm.

“Lucky us,” murmured Ren, eyes drifting shut.

**Hour 6**

“This can’t be the only place that’s open,” said Nora, while busily filling a bucket-sized cup with neon orange slurpee.

Ren watched her with a look of growing concern, eventually just gently twisting the lever back up and saving her from herself.

“It’s gonna be all corner stores and fast food places at this time of night,” said Jaune.

He stood nearby, mindlessly flipping through some magazines. Ruby stood next to him, finding the ugliest possible pictures and whispering “that’s you” to whichever of her friends happened to be walking by.

“Should we just go back to school?” asked Blake, from the other side of the store. She had been unable to tear her sleepy gaze away from the rotating hot dogs in the display for the past ten minutes. The old shopkeep behind the counter was taking turns staring at her uneasily and glaring at Yang, who was testing all of the pens in the first aisle on her arm.

She finished up a particularly amazing drawing of a dog, then returned the pen, rolling her sleeve back down.

“You guys have no sense of adventure. I’m sure we can find something cool to do.”

“What would you suggest?” asked Pyrrha, pausing in her and Weiss’ perusal of the ugly corner store shirts. She had one that read “MY SEMBLANCE IS PIZZA” draped over her arm, as if she was considering it, for some reason.

“I can’t disclose that information,” said Yang, grinning mysteriously.

“You know what I think?” asked Ruby.

She was interrupted by Nora slamming her slurpee on the front counter, handing the cashier some lien and then whirling around to face her. Nora took a giant sip, then immediately folded in half from brain freeze. Blake turned away from the hot dogs and patted her back half-heartedly.

“What do you think, Ruby?”

Nora rubbed her head with one fist.

“I… augh… evil, delicious drink…! Ruby! Say your thing… go on without me.”

“Um. Well, if you’re sure…”

She glanced around at everyone, brow knitted in deep thought.

“Okay, so, Jaune and Pyrrha….” She pointed to them, and they gave each other a cursory smile-nod.

“And Blake and Yang…” she swiped across the store from Blake, still with Nora, to Yang, who was brushing a hand along the spines of some travel guides.

“Ren and Nora…”

“Of course,” said Nora, puffing herself up to full height once more. It wasn’t much height, admittedly. 

Ren nodded. Of course.

“And then me and you, Weiss!” Weiss crossed her arms, waiting for the verdict.

“As partners, we share a special connection, and that makes this a fair contest. Our job is to find The Coolest Thing To Do in the City At Night. The winner gets… uh… the winner! Imagine how fun it would be to win!”

She waved her arms lamely.

“And… yeah. That’s my idea.”

“I like the way you think!” said Yang.

“I mean, Ren and I are totally gonna win, but yeah!” said Nora, pumping a fist in the air.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” said Pyrrha good-naturedly. She was never one to back down from a challenge.

“So it’s decided then? We’re doing this?” asked Ruby.

“I mean, eight people is kind of a lot to be walking around with,” admitted Weiss.

The shopkeep snorted.

“So we’ll meet back here at, what, six am?” asked Jaune.

“Sounds like a plan.”

**Hour 7**

“Why is nothing open?” wailed Ruby, tugging on the door of a community centre in despair.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because it’s two in the morning?” said Weiss, throwing up her hands. 

“What? You really didn’t know why?” asked Ruby, cocking her head.

“Of course I did!” snapped Weiss. “Everyone needs to sleep sometimes. Most people choose nighttime.”

Ruby groaned, lurching forward into a walk. She led them a couple more blocks in silence, desperately trying to think of something, anything, that could make them the winners of the challenge. It would just be depressing if she lost at her own contest!

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A dainty snowflake symbol, painted boldly on the side of a huge, windowless building.

“Weiss… is that…?”

Weiss crossed her arms.

“Oh, it is. I almost forgot the Schnee Dust Company had a warehouse out here. It’s not open either, naturally.”

She went to take a few steps past it, but Ruby was stopped dead. Weiss sighed and turned back around.

“It’s so… big!” gushed Ruby.

“Well, it’s a warehouse,” said Weiss. “It has to be big.”

Ruby looked at her, eyes sparkling.

“What’s inside it?”

“I don’t know. Dust, mostly. Sometimes there’s offices, some old technology, maybe old weapons…”

The instant she said it, Weiss wished she could take it back. Ruby started bouncing, eyes sparkling and mouth open wide.

“You have to show me! Weiss, there has to be a way we can get in pleasepleaseplease I want to see the weapons and the warehouse! I’ve never been in a warehouse before! Please, Weiss?”

Weiss closed her eyes, bringing a hand to her forehead, which was starting to ache.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how many rules we would be breaking.”

“But you COULD do it, right? You know a way?”

Weiss sighed. She wished she knew how to say no to Ruby when she got like this. Something about her eyes, and her face, and the edge of innocent hopefulness in her voice…

“I know a way.”

A few minutes later, after sneaking around back, Weiss carefully entered a fourteen-digit code into a hidden control panel by the rear door. Ruby bounced up and down the whole time, unable to hold in her pure excitement. 

“You have to be quiet in there, okay?” said Weiss. “Security has increased since Roman Torchwick took all that dust. There might be guards, or security cameras or something. Augh, wait! There’s going to be security cameras…”

“No problem!” said Ruby.

She booted up her scroll, swiped through some apps, and brought up “camera locator”. The screen flickered into view, with a map of their current location and the location of every security camera in the building, highlighted in green.

“What? Why in Remnant do you have that?” asked Weiss, taking a step backward.

“Just for fun,” said Ruby, shrinking. “Dad showed us how to use it.”

Weiss massaged her temples. What an upbringing Ruby and Yang must have had. 

“Well, let’s go in, then,” she said. 

They stepped over the dusty threshold, footsteps echoing in the huge space. Weiss caught a glimpse of piles and piles of crates before the door swung shut behind her, with a loud sound. The pair were plunged into darkness.

“Eek!” 

Ruby jumped forward, clinging onto Weiss’ arm. They stood like that for a while, illuminated only by the light from Ruby’s scroll.

“Sorry, I just… I’m thinking about Ren’s story again,” said Ruby. Weiss’ heart lurched.

“Do NOT mention that right now.”

She gently shook Ruby off, pulling out her own scroll for light.

“We’re in here now, we might as well look around.”

Weiss took a cautious step forward, boot clacking on the cement floor. She glanced left and right, seeing only darkness following her immediate view of some stacked crates.

“Weapons are probably this way,” she said, starting towards the right. She had no idea if weapons were this way.

The two had only walked about the length of one aisle before Ruby tugged on Weiss’ sleeve, steering her away from the corner.

“There’s a camera over there,” she breathed. “Let’s cut through the crates.”

Ruby gestured down an incredibly narrow path that was probably very unsafe. If one crate fell, it would without a question trigger some sort of reaction that would crush them into pancakes.

But Ruby was already gone, squeezing sideways through the pathway. Weiss sighed deeply, then followed without comment. Her feet could barely find purchase on the duty floor as she shuffled herself along, trying desperately not to bump into anything. She couldn’t hold her light properly, and all she could see was her right leg as she continued on after her partner.

“Ouch! Weiss, that was my foot,” whimpered Ruby. Weiss stepped back, off of Ruby’s foot.

“Well don’t stop so suddenly then,” she said.

“But I think I found something!”

Ruby manoeuvred her light just right, sweeping it up to a rack at the end of the row. Ruby let out a quiet squeak.

Dozens of the same weapon, an old dust rifle of some sort, were lined up from end to end and top to bottom in neat arrangement. Ruby took off towards it, then stopped dead in her tracks, her horrified face lit from below, as the sound of heavy footfalls approached them.

“Who’s there?” 

A deep, threatening voice called out from somewhere to their right. Weiss’ heart leapt into her throat. She could not be caught in here. She absolutely could NOT be caught in here. Electricity buzzed in her muscles, yet she stood frozen in place.

Ruby rescued her, pulling on her arm, and she allowed herself to be lead, mind whirling, out of the aisle and in the opposite direction of the voice. Her boots betrayed her as they clicked on the cement, loudly echoing among the crates. Weiss’ every thought was fueled by pure panic. She’d get in trouble. She’d be kicked out of Beacon. Her father would find out, and he’d never forgive her. She’d be ruined.

“Quick, in here,” hissed Ruby, pushing down on Weiss’ shoulders.

She registered an old dust crate, fallen sideways inconspicuously in the middle of another narrow aisle. The lid was cracked open on the side, and Ruby forced Weiss in, crawling in after her. She turned off the light, and they were plunged into darkness.

There was barely any space to breathe in the crate, let alone move. Weiss was wedged up against the wall of the crate, knees pressed into her chest. For once, she was grateful for her small stature. Ruby sat panting, shoulder and thigh pressed against Weiss’.

They stayed as quiet as possible, listening for footsteps. There were a few distant thumping noises, then a muffled voice, but the words were unclear through the crate.

Weiss lowered her forehead against her knees, grounding herself. She tried and failed to steady her breathing. They needed to get out of here. Now.

“Any bright ideas, Ruby?” she whispered, voice muffled by the fabric of her skirt. There was a long silence before Ruby answered.

“I guess we’ll just have to make a break for it, when we think the coast is clear.”

Weiss’ heartbeat spiked with fear.

“That is a terrible idea! We’ll get caught for sure!” she hissed. 

“No way!” whispered Ruby, shuffling her legs a little. “It’ll even be fun, maybe. Like a game of hide and seek tag. Or flashlight tag!”

Weiss squeezed her eyes shut. There was no way this was happening.

“I don’t know what those things are, and I don’t care. That is NOT how we are getting out of here.”

Ruby gasped.

“You’ve never played hide and seek tag?”

“Is that so weird?” asked Weiss wearily.

“Well, maybe! Yang and I used to play all the time. It’s like the best game ever.”

“Well, regardless, now is not the time for hide and seek tag,” whispered Weiss, as forcefully as possible.

“Never played hide and seek tag…” whispered Ruby, still shocked. 

“Ruby, please stop talking, I’m trying to think of an actual way out of this.”

“Never played hide and seek tag… well!”

With a noise like the end of the world, Ruby burst out of the crate, flashing her scroll’s light on and off.

“Hey, over here!” she yelled. 

“Stop right there!” 

The voice called from a few aisles away, and Weiss’ heart leapt into her throat as thunderous footfalls started towards them.

Ruby stuck out her tongue, looking sickeningly proud of herself, then shut off her light and bolted away, leaving Weiss standing frozen in place, panic coursing through her veins. 

Ruby’s boots made clear footstep noises, and Weiss caught sight of the guard’s flashlight, sweeping away from Weiss’ area and towards Ruby’s steps. 

Weiss rubbed her temples, taking in a shaky breath. It was either escape and let Ruby get caught, or get caught herself. She was completely trapped in this awful situation. Unless….

Making up her mind, Weiss shakily crawled out of her hiding place, standing up and brushing off her dress. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, then turned and gave a crate a hard shove, triggering another cataclysmic noise that, hopefully, masked Ruby’s footsteps. 

“Over here!” she called, trying to alter her voice so that whoever it was wouldn’t recognize her.  
She immediately started running, pulling back the way she’d come.

“You kids are in a lot of trouble!” yelled the guard. His trajectory changed again, and she heard him running back towards where they’d started, panic changing to thrill. Maybe, just maybe, they’d actually be able to pull this off.

She heard another noise from farther away, and watched the guard’s light flash towards the ceiling. He yelled obscenities at them, clearly not sure where to go now. Weiss was in the same spot, trying to avoid security cameras without using Ruby’s app. 

She was so engrossed in planning that she didn’t notice someone approaching her. The person grabbed her arm, and she cried out, jolting to attention.

“Shh! Weiss, it’s me! This way!”

Ruby’s face was rosy in her scroll’s light, a manic grin splitting her face. Weiss was so glad to see her she almost forgot to be furious with her.

The guard’s footsteps changed again, back in the direction of Weiss’ scream.

Ruby’s grip shifted to Weiss’ hand, and she dragged her through winding aisles to a new section of the warehouse. They hit a wall, then turned. 

The footsteps grew closer, and Ruby and Weiss ran faster, barrelling towards some distant exit.

“Ruby!” Weiss screeched. 

She spotted a light to their left, and saw the guard, a large bearded man in a red vest. He caught sight of them as well, anger twisting his features as he broke into a run. 

“Stop right there!” 

Ruby grabbed Weiss’ hand and pulled her in another direction, and they sprinted away from him.

“Almost there almost there almost there!” yelled Ruby.

They pushed through a door, the chilly night air a welcome feeling on Weiss’ face. The cement floor changed to uneven grass as they barrelled away, stumbling across the lawn, away from the lights, and back to the streets.

They kept running for a few blocks, panting and sweating and letting out little yells every now and then.

“I can’t believe we just did that!” 

Weiss slowed to a fast walk, letting go of Ruby’s hand. 

“If we get caught, we’ll be in so much trouble!”

“We didn’t technically break in,” Ruby pointed out, fidgeting with the zipper on her jacket pocket. Her face crumpled. “I’m so sorry Weiss. I didn’t realize how big a deal it was to be in there.”

Weiss sighed. Her heart was still racing, and she definitely had a headache now. She felt guilt twisting in her stomach, and wondered what kind of backlash this would have for Schnee Dust Company security. Their warehouses had always been subject to pranks, kids breaking in, that sort of thing. The combination of the locks would probably be changed again. Her father would probably get angry for a little while.

All things considered, though, things could have been much worse. They hadn’t been caught. They definitely had an interesting story to share now. And, above all, Weiss kept playing back Ruby’s delight at seeing the weapon rack, before everything fell apart. Something about Ruby’s happiness made Weiss happy, too. She decided to be vague in her response, mouth curling into a half-smile.

“I can see why you and Yang like that game so much.”

Ruby tilted her head to the side.

“What?”

“Hide and seek tag,” said Weiss, folding her arms. “It’s kind of fun.”

Ruby lit up again, and Weiss’ mood lightened considerably.

“Now let’s get as far away from here as possible.”

**Hour 8**

“I… think we’re back where we started,” said Jaune, stopping in his tracks.

He glanced around at their surroundings. Tall, dark buildings loomed all around them, menacing in the dark of night. Trees bent towards him in the breeze. 

“Or maybe just… all the buildings kind of look the same?”

“No, I think you’re right,” said Pyrrha. “It does seem familiar.” 

“I can’t believe nothing cool is open,” said Jaune. “It’s… cold out here.”

“Really?” asked Pyrrha. “I would have thought you’d have gotten used to it by now.”

The cold wasn’t actually that bad, since they’d started walking and warmed up a bit.

“Yeah. We need to get inside somewhere,” said Jaune, hugging his arms around himself. He’d been acting kind of strange since they’d set out, fidgety and nervous.

“Jaune… are you alright?” asked Pyrrha.

“Yeah, fine, just… aah!”

He jumped as a leaf fell in his path. Pyrrha suddenly understood.

“Are you… still thinking about Ren’s story?”

“No!” said Jaune, too quickly. He slumped. “Yes.”

Pyrrha smiled warmly at him. It had been quite a chilling story.

“Well, if you need a place to relax, we could always go down to the shore.”

Jaune looked a little unconvinced, fidgeting with the drawstrings of his hoodie.

“I mean, it’s more interesting than wandering around town, I guess,” he said.

Pyrrha led the way to the shoreline, Jaune stumbling over rocks and driftwood behind her. When they finally reached water, in no time flat, she had slipped out of her boots and rolled up her leggings, wiggling her toes in the sand where it met the water. 

Jaune tried to follow suit, stepping in beside her, but he immediately let out a high-pitched yelp and jumped back.

“It’s cold!”

Pyrrha giggled. 

“Of course. It’s autumn now. And the Vale shore tends to be colder in general, I find.”

“Right…”

Jaune forced himself to step back beside her, feet screaming at the chill.

Pyrrha stretched her arms forward, tendrils of red hair framing her face in the ocean breeze. She looked happy. Really happy. Jaune kind of loved it.

“I never knew you liked the ocean so much,” he said, wiggling his toes to make sure they were still there. He felt nothing. They probably weren’t there.

“I grew up with a deep appreciation for the ocean,” said Pyrrha, folding her hands together. “In Mistral, we see the ocean as our life force. Everything we have comes from nature.”

Jaune nodded.

“Yeah. I mean, that’s true.”

Unable to stand it anymore, Jaune stepped back and out of the water, just so that the waves reached him every now and then. Pyrrha laughed.

“It is pretty cold,” she said. 

Jaune hopped from foot to foot.

“How can you still be standing in there?”

“I’m used to it, I suppose,” she said, still fighting back a laugh. “You’re more awake now though, I’m sure.”

“Except for my feet, which’ll probably never wake up again.”

Pyrrha stepped out of the water, pointing her toes and splashing him a little, maybe not entirely by accident.

“Well, while we’re both here we could train a little bit,” she suggested. He could tell she was still feeling a bit of the buzz from the soda, and her energy was exhausting to him.

“Can’t you feel your aura crackling with the water?” she added.

“Uh. Yes,” said Jaune. He could not. 

Pyrrha hopped back and forth, feet making swirling patterns in the sand. The caffeine was definitely doing something crazy to her. 

“Okay, what were we working on last?”

Jaune scratched at the back of his neck.

“Uh…”

He was taking too long to respond, and Pyrrha cut in, way too antsy to get started.

“You want to start by sparring?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Jaune.

Before he could react, she swept out with her leg, sending him tumbling backwards into the water. She immediately got out of fighting stance, hands over her heart. 

“Jaune!”

Pyrrha reached down, splashing more water on him in her haste to get him back on his feet.

“I’m sorry! I thought you were ready.”

“That’s okay,” said Jaune, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering. Now he could add “wet” and “miserable” to the list of reasons he didn’t want to be outside.

“Are you alright?” she said, brushing sand off of his arms and back with hard hits that almost knocked him off balance again. He gently stopped her, taking a few steps forward.

“Let’s… go find somewhere to dry off.”

Pyrrha nodded, biting her lip.

They entered the first 24-hour-fast-food-restaurant they found and, at the insistence that bathrooms were for customers only, Pyrrha went to order them both some drinks while Jaune painstakingly dried off his hoodie and shirt using the bathroom hand dryer.

He came back out in only his salty T-shirt, draping the hoodie over a chair beside him as he sat across from Pyrrha. He gratefully accepted the coffee she passed him, taking a giant sip and burning his tongue instantly.

“Ack! Ouch…”

He fought down the gulp and Pyrrha smiled slightly, cupping her tea in her palms.

“You… are not having the best time today, are you?” she asked, a little apologetic.

“What, no!” said Jaune. “This is nice.”

She looked away from him, face turning pink, probably from the heat of her drink. His stomach fluttered for some reason.

“We have to come up with something really cool for Ruby’s contest. We’ll say we fought some grimm or something,” he said. 

“Without any weapons?” asked Pyrrha, grinning.

“Of course! With how much we’ve been training, I can definitely take a grimm with my bare hands.”

He flexed his muscles mockingly.

“I… would still probably bring a weapon, if I was you,” said Pyrrha, dropping her gaze.

There was a silence, and they both sipped their drinks.

“Is that… a Pumpkin Pete’s shirt, too?” she asked, noticing the bunny emblem on his breast pocket.

Jaune shifted self-consciously. It wasn’t that Pumpkin Pete wasn’t cool, because he obviously was, but it was a little weird to promote this mascot when Pyrrha herself was also kind of a Pumpkin Pete’s mascot.

“My family eats a lot of cereal.”

She grinned.

“I have the same shirt, actually.”

“You what?”

“I got a lot of merchandise with the deal I have. I just don’t wear it that often.”

Jaune fake gasped.

“Pyrrha Nikos, are you suggesting that you are too cool for Pumpkin Pete himself?”

“Well I did replace him on the cereal boxes for a while,” she said. “Although I do appreciate your devotion to him.”

“I think he’s neat,” said Jaune, giving him a little pat. “I won’t be ashamed of him.”

“Good,” said Pyrrha. “The shirt... looks good on you, anyway.”

Pyrrha’s face reddened again and she turned away, and Jaune’s arm did a weird spasm thing that knocked over his coffee.

“I’ll get napkins!” shouted Pyrrha, jumping to her feet.

**Hour 9**

Blake rubbed her head as the music shifted again. How was it that as time went on, the music only pounded more and more? Shouldn’t they change it up or something?

“What do you think, Blake? Another drink?” asked Yang, giving her a friendly slap on the back.

Yang had just finished her sixth virgin cocktail, and Blake was still only halfway through her second. It wasn’t bad, she just would much rather be at Beacon, asleep, than here in one of Yang’s shady night clubs.

As soon as they had broken off from the other six, Yang had announced that she knew everything there was to know about Vale’s night life, and had immediately led them to this extra-late-night club. A bouncer at the door was checking IDs, but had flinched a bit as soon as he saw Yang, ushering them both through.

Blake was definitely not a club person. Something about sweaty people and flashing lights and music so loud she couldn’t even talk to Yang without yelling just wasn’t doing it for her. They’d spent a few hours now sitting at a little table, Blake fighting to stay awake while Yang danced in her seat and chatted with some people she recognized.

“Blake! You’re falling asleep again!” shouted Yang. She said something else, too, but Blake couldn’t hear her over the music. 

“That’s because it’s four AM,” said Blake, softly so Yang had to shout “WHAT?” in response. She didn’t repeat herself.

They were pretty much the only people left in the club at this point, just a few stragglers still dancing. 

“Well…” Yang started. She kept talking, but Blake couldn’t hear a word.

“What?” she said, leaning in so Yang could cup her hands over Blake’s ear.

“If you dance, you don’t feel tired!” Yang yelled.

She grabbed Blake by the hand, and Blake warily followed her out onto the dance floor.

“Yang, this is a bad idea,” she said, shrinking.

“What’s the matter?” Yang yelled.

Blake leaned in to Yang’s ear.

“I don’t know how to dance like this!” she admitted. “I can slow dance, but this is… it’s too much!”

Yang grinned, grabbing both of her hands. Blake smiled back.

“Follow my lead!”

The two stayed like that for a while, Yang bouncing to the music, occasionally twirling Blake, while Blake swayed a bit, self-consciously. She had to admit, this was waking her up.

The music changed again, and Blake startled. Yang let go of her hands.

“Okay, we’ll stop!” she yelled. Blake nodded gratefully.

They headed towards the other side of the club, where it was a little quieter. Earlier, it had been filled with rambunctious men playing pool, but now the pool tables were deserted. 

“What do you think?” asked Yang. “Think you can beat me?”

She picked up two cues, tossing one to Blake. Blake caught it with the expertise of a practiced fighter, then swung it around just to show off a little.

“I do.”

They played a few rounds, and Blake won both times. Yang lamented that she had no idea Blake was actually good at this game, and then insisted that they stop when Blake admitted that she had actually never played before.

Yang laid down on a nearby bench, blowing a lock of hair out of her face. Blake sat next to her, folding her hands in her lap.

“When Ruby and I were kids we used to play games to try to stay up late,” said Yang, closing her eyes. “And then whenever dad walked by we’d hide under the blankets, giggling. He must have known we were awake, right?”

Blake smiled. That sounded like a lovely memory.

“So?” asked Yang, glancing up to where Blake was sitting. “Is it working? The games, I mean.”

Blake frowned, noticing she was unconsciously slumping down in her seat, fighting off sleep again.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I mean, it’s been fun, but I’m still tired.”

Yang snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine, then. What do you do when you want to stay awake?”

Usually, Blake’s sleepless nights involved too much thinking. Examining the wrong in the world, or her troubles with Adam and the White Fang, or missing her parents. Yang must have remembered their friction over Blake’s lack of sleep earlier that year, because she looked troubled now, biting her lip. Blake decided to rescue her.

“Well, sometimes… if I’m reading a good book or something…”

Yang grinned again, relief flooding her face. 

“Okay, great. That’s easy! I’ll just tell you a really good story.”

Blake leaned back.

“If you say so.”

“No, trust me,” said Yang, bringing up one knee. “This will blow your mind. Just let me think.”

There was a long silence, and Blake felt herself drifting off.

“Okay!” 

The sound of Yang’s voice snapped her out of it.

“So, once upon a time, there was a hero named Blake!”

Blake grinned.

“I’m the hero?”

“The hero always used to be Ruby when I told stories to Ruby,” Yang insisted. “It was awesome. Anyway…”

She paused, collecting her thoughts. 

“So Blake was this really cool hero, who saved lots and lots of people all the time. And then one day she came across a person who needed help! She went up to the person and asked what was wrong, and the person said they lost their… frog. A pet frog.”

“Oh no,” said Blake.

“I’m making this up as I go along, okay?” said Yang. “So Blake went off to the swamp, where she knew the frog would probably be. But then it wasn’t a swamp at all, it was the inside of a giant frog. And it turns out the frog that the guy lost was HUGE. And she was inside it.”

“Are you sure the lack of sleep isn’t affecting you, too?” asked Blake, laughing softly.

“It sure is!” said Yang. “I have no idea what I’m saying. Anyway, Blake fought against all of the frog’s gut monsters with her cool sword. And then she burst back out through the frog’s mouth. And the person was happy that she found the frog, but, honestly, how did he lose a frog that big in the first place? Irresponsible, really…”

Yang yawned, her hands stretching upwards and punching Blake lightly in the stomach and leg.  
Blake grinned.

“Maybe we should just go back to dancing.”

**Hour 10**

She struggled to the top, her cold fingers scrabbling for any kind of purchase on the icy metal. Every breath was like knives in her lungs, her feet shaking as she climbed… closer… closer…

“I made it!” Shouted Nora, bolting to the top of the climbing gym, and standing up on it with questionable balance. “I’m queen of the castle!”

Ren waved at her from below, frowning slightly. 

“Come on up! I can see the whole world from here!”

Ren glanced up at the children’s climbing gym, barely ten feet high, in the middle of the padded rubber tarmac of the playground they’d found. 

“I’m going to stay down here,” he said, slumping against the bars. He had never felt so tired in his entire life. 

“Nope!” 

He cried out as the full weight of Nora fell onto him from above. She had stopped herself on his torso, arms around his neck, and he stumbled forward, nearly falling and crushing her. 

“Nora!” he scolded, pushing her off.

“Ha! But you’re more awake now, right?” she said, linking her hands behind her back and laughing.

“I suppose.”

Ren sighed. He had been trying to be quiet, to at least be respectful to the citizens of the upper-class neighbourhood they’d found themselves in. The two had been wandering for hours, and Ren was not looking forward to the long walk back to their meeting place.

“I’m going on the swings next,” said Nora, skipping away. “Come sit!”

She jumped up onto a swing, standing up and pumping her legs back and forth in the seat as she held on. Her upper half just stayed kind of still, which was clearly not fun, so she slid down the chain and started swinging normally. She realized she’d lost sight of Ren at some point, and wound herself around a few times, trying to spot him.

“Ren? Where did you go?” She asked. “Wheee!”

She forgot about that no-good party-pooper, lifting up her feet so she spun around, like, really really fast. It was awesome.

When she stopped spinning, though, Ren still wasn’t there. She leapt back up so she was standing on the swing again, wobbling dizzily, this time raising a hand to her forehead and scouting for Ren.

“Ren?”

“Over here.”

She barely heard his voice somewhere ahead. He was being really, really quiet.

“Where?” she shouted back, cupping her hands around her mouth and nearly falling off the swing. 

“Shhh. Under the slide.”

Nora hopped down in a perfect landing, smiling to herself, then skipped over towards Ren.

“What are you… oh my gosh!”

Ren was standing up, cradling a tiny orange cat. It wriggled around, desperately trying to escape. A bell on its collar jingled.

“He’s so cute!” said Nora, reaching up to pet him. “Can we name him? I vote ‘captain pumpkins’. No, wait! ‘Destroyer’!”

The cat meowed, obviously because he liked his new name.

“The collar says his name is Joe,” said Ren, trying desperately to hold on as the cat’s anger grew to an all-out attack.

Nora frowned.

“Oh. Well that’s okay too, I guess.”

“The collar also says his home is somewhere on the other side of town. I wonder if someone’s looking for him.”

Nora bounced up and down.

“Oh my gosh! We’re gonna be cat rescuers! Let’s take him home, Ren!”

Ren nodded. The cat scratched at him.

“Hmm. He doesn’t like you,” said Nora, sticking out her arms. “Give him to me.”

Ren frowned, debating.

“Okay, just be careful…”

He deposited the cat in Nora’s arms, and it immediately settled, curling up against her chest and purring. Typical.

“Okay! Away we go!” 

After much searching, the two managed to find the house down a curved side street. It was, quite frankly, huge. Nestled in the heart of upper-class suburbia, with a garden and a welcome mat and all sorts of things that made Nora’s heart twist in that weird way it did.

They debated for awhile about whether to knock on the door, considering the early hour, but eventually Nora just reached up and did it, and a few minutes later a woman greeted them in a housecoat and slippers, looking tired and a little angry. 

“Hey! We found your cat!” said Nora, holding it up just under its front legs so it hung down and squirmed.

The lady immediately softened, putting a hand over her mouth.

“Oh, Joe! You’ve come home!”

She grabbed the cat, hugging him. He squirmed more, meowing.

“Oh, bless you both. He’s been missing for days. I’d just about given up hope. Where did you find him?”

“He was in a park several blocks away,” said Ren.

The cat meowed, leaping out of the woman’s arms and taking off into the house.

“He’s a good cat,” said Nora.

Ren gave half a nod.

“Oh, I’m just so happy!” said the woman, adjusting her robe. “And, of course, you’ll be wanting the reward money.”

Nora lit up. The woman fidgeted with her robe some more.

“Why don’t you two come inside for a moment? I’ll get that for you.”

“Thank you,” said Ren.

They stepped into a well-lit sitting room stuffed with comfortable-looking furniture. The signs of family life were everywhere, from the drawings hung on the walls to the toys and books littering the floor.

“Sorry it’s so messy,” called the woman, from another room. 

“It’s not that bad,” insisted Nora.

She smiled softly, her stomach twisting again. These kids sure were lucky to grow up in a place like this.

She pulled Ren over to a bookshelf to look through their movies, trying to find something cool they could look for later. Nora pulled anything that looked interesting off the shelf, handing it to him. Just as the stack in Ren’s arms was getting dangerously wobbly, the woman arrived again.

“Here you are. Four hundred… five hundred. That should be the full amount.”

She handed the lien to Nora, who took it hungrily.

“Thankyousomuch!”

“Thank you.”

The two put the movies back on the shelf, then left the house, Nora with a bounce in her step.

“Five hundred lien, Ren! Just for spending some time with a cute little kitty! We’re having the best night for sure, take that Ruby!”

“Yeah,” said Ren.

Now that the excitement was over, he was back to stumbling around and wishing for sleep.

“I have the best idea!” said Nora, grabbing his arm. 

“Hm?”

“Let’s go back to that corner store, right, and buy all sorts of cool pancake stuff! Like frozen fruit and chocolate chips and peanut butter and pickles!”

Ren frowned.

“Pickles?”

“Yeah! Pickles! Let’s go!”

**Hour 11**

“They’re late!” said Weiss, rubbing her eyes. She’d been rubbing them pretty solidly for the last hour. They were getting pretty red.

Pyrrha gently moved Weiss’ arms down.

“I’m sure they’re on their way.”

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha had met up outside the store at six am, just as promised. They were all tired and irritable, and just generally having a bad morning.

“Here we are!” yelled Nora, pushing her way out of the store. The door smacked right into Jaune, and he sighed, holding his hand over his nose.

“You were in the store the whole time?” asked Blake, frowning.

“Duh, of course we were in the store the whole time,” said Nora. “Buying lots and lots of pancake stuff! We’re gonna have the best breakfast ever!”

“Ooh, what did you get?”

Ruby leapt over to Nora and began rifling through the bags. Nora snatched them away, pressing them into Ren, who “oof”ed softly.

“That’s a secret!” said Nora. “Let’s head back to school soon, I’m starving!”

“School sounds good to me,” said Blake.

“Yeah, let’s get our pancake on!” said Yang. She pumped a fist into the air, and took the lead back towards the docks. Everyone followed, Ren stumbling a little under the weight of the bags.

“Oh, but the sun’s coming up!” said Pyrrha. Everyone paused to look at her. She blinked.

“I mean… I just thought… wouldn’t you all like to watch the sunrise? I’m sure it will be beautiful.”

Jaune nodded slowly.

“Yeah. We could go back down to the beach. That was nice.”

There was general agreement, and they set out together, swapping stories about their crazy nights. Each pair insisted that they’d had the best time, and overall there was no winner, just a lot of laughter and smiling and cold toes in the sand.

They finally all collapsed on the shore, sitting just close enough that Yang and Pyrrha’s outstretched legs could feel the waves, but no one else had to deal with that.

They sat like that for a while, the sun colouring the sky in gorgeous reds and oranges, and the water positively sparkling in the morning light. They took it in together, silently enjoying the view and the good company.

Then Ruby, leaning on Yang, started to snore lightly.

“Nope! Time to get up!” said Yang, moving her gently.

“Wha?” asked Jaune, rolling over from where he’d been lying on the sand. Tons of it was now caught in his hair and stuck to his hoodie.

“Oh no, everyone’s falling asleep!” said Nora, bouncing to her feet. “Okay, this has been nice. But it’s back to school, now! Time for some breakfast!”

**Hour 12**

The pan hissed as Ren poured the fourth round of batter. He tried to focus on this sound, instead of the sound of the many small wars breaking out around him.

“Ruby, you put your elbow in the syrup again!” yelled Weiss, pointing at her.

Ruby scowled.

“It’s not a big deal! It’s just a little syrup!”

“It’s going to get all over the table and then everyone will have to put up with the stickyness!”

“Well sor-ry!”

“You should be sorry!”

Pyrrha watched the two of them, tilting her head back and forth, biting her lip as if debating whether to break up the fight or not. Meanwhile, Jaune and Yang were having a silent scuffle, Yang folding the tea towels one way, and Jaune immediately snatching them up to fold them another. Yang was simmering, scowling more and more deeply with every repetition.

Blake leaned back in her chair, chin pointed towards the ceiling, occasionally begging them all to be quiet. No one listened. Everyone was tired, and hungry, and just couldn’t seem to get along.

As for Nora…

“Are you sure this one isn’t ready yet? Flip it over!” 

Nora leaned forward and poked at the newest pancake with a fork, dragging the batter up the side of the pan. 

“Oh, whoops. It wasn’t ready.”

Ren sighed, trying to fight down his own annoyance. He added some chopped up strawberries and chocolate chips, for Ruby. Nora leaned over and took a strawberry, popping it into her mouth and giggling. This was the last straw.

“Nora,” said Ren, not looking at her, putting a new strawberry back into the empty space.

“Yes, Ren?” Nora looked up at him, fork still dangling from her mouth.

“You’re my oldest friend.”

Nora blinked, confused.

“… true.”

“You know I care about you.”

“Okay.”

Ren took a deep breath, putting down the spatula and turning to face her. He grabbed her by the shoulders.

“But if you don’t step away from the stove this instant, I will lovingly wring your neck.”

Nora took a step away, folding her arms behind her back.

The fighting stopped all over the kitchen. Everyone paused to stare at Ren. It was the most aggressive thing any of them had ever heard him say.

The silence lasted quite a while, until they all had personalized pancakes in front of them, filled with their favourite ingredients and even, in some cases, shaped like things they liked.

“Ren, this is so cute!” gushed Pyrrha, holding up a pancake shaped like a bear. 

“Anf delifious too!” said Yang, through a mouthful of strawberry banana protein pancakes.

“You’re all welcome. Now let’s eat.”

**Hour 13**

At some point, Yang brought out the video games. Everyone laid around the common room in various states of dishevelment, eyes bleary and hair ruffled. She loaded the controller on all of their scrolls, and the game began.

“This is an eight player fight, so everyone can play,” said Yang, her voice cracking from tiredness.

“I’m gonna win,” said Ruby, waving her scroll in the air from where she laid at the foot of the couch. She didn’t look up. But she was going to win.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Yang.

They all rolled around so they could each see the TV, somehow, and the match began.

“How do you play this game?” asked Ren.

The green ninja character flew offscreen with an explosion sound effect.

“Whoops. Too late,” said Yang.

“Just mash buttons, basically,” said Nora. She was bouncing up and down, hitting everything. Her pink frog character mirrored this, spasming across the screen.

Weiss’ white knight ran up and kicked her, and she flew away with an explosion.

“Oh my God…”

Weiss started laughing, and soon everyone was laughing, even the defeated Nora. Pyrrha went down next, her magician unable to match up to her real-life fighting skills.

Pyrrha started laughing now, and she kicked out, accidentally knocking Blake’s scroll out of her hands. Instead of apologizing, Pyrrha just laughed harder, tears forming in her eyes, as Blake’s ghost was defeated. Blake laughed along, lying back down with her hands holding her stomach.

“Oh nooo, we’re all delirious!” said Nora, kicking out. “The tiredness… it’s killing us all…”

She shook with laughter, tucking herself into a ball. Ren poked her nose.

Weiss and Jaune exploded offscreen at basically the same time, and it came down to Yang and Ruby. They all took turns cheering for them both, until Ruby eventually beat Yang with a finishing move to go down in video game history.

Yang set up another game, and they began again.

“Do you guys think video game characters have feelings?” asked Ruby, giggling.

“My guy does. He feels VICTORY,” said Weiss.

Her character was immediately defeated by Yang’s.

“Hear that? He’s crying,” said Yang. Then she started laughing so hard she was easily defeated by Nora, who was flailing around as usual.

“Haha! Eat my dust Y… aww…”

Nora threw the controller down as Ren kicked her out of the arena.

They all continued laughing until, somehow, Ren won the match.

“How?” asked Nora, throwing a pillow at him. He dodged it expertly, and shrugged.

More laughter, and they set up a new game.

**Hour 14**

“I’m not saying don’t do this again, I’m saying invite us next time!” said Sun, crossing his arms in fake disappointment. Neptune followed suit.

“We could have won that Best Thing To Do At Night challenge no problem.”

Nobody even bothered to object. Teams RWBY and JNPR had settled into a comatose silence, everyone doing their own thing and everyone just barely keeping awake, with Nora’s encouragement.

“It’s like a funeral in here,” lamented Sun, settling himself on the couch next to Blake. She rolled her eyes, but smiled a bit. 

“It’s been a long night.”

She turned the page of her book, being careful not to jostle Yang, who was leaning on her shoulder, eyes closed.

“Yang, are you sleeping?” asked Nora from the floor.

“No. Just… thinking,” Yang croaked.

Nora made the ‘I’m watching you’ sign with her fingers, then went back to playing on her scroll.

“So, uh… do you guys want to go do something?” asked Sun, tapping his foot on the carpet. His energy made Blake sick.

“Like… what?”

“I don’t know. Something cool.”

Sun crossed his arms. Neptune nodded along. Something cool.

No one responded to this, and Neptune shifted nervously. Silence wasn’t his favourite thing.

“We could, like, go out and explore the grounds some more? I think we found some pretty cool stuff last time.”

Sun threw a fist in the air.

“Yeah! Exploring!”

There was no response, except a light groan from Ruby. Sun stood up.

“Come on you guys, get excited! Classes start up again tomorrow, and then we’re not going to have any time to just hang out like this.”

“If you did your homework on time, then there would be more time for hanging out,” said Blake, looking up from her book.

Sun laughed nervously.

“Okay, so you don’t want to go somewhere. That’s fine. What about all these games over here?”

Sun pointed to their board game pile, which had been shoved into the corner as soon as they got back, to make room for lying down.

Neptune crouched down by the pile, looking it over.

“They’ve got some good stuff here,” he said. “What about… I don’t know, uno?”

Sun gasped.

“Neptune, what have I told you about uno, man?”

“Oh, right, sorry. How about… scrabble?”

No response from the room. Sun just shook his head.

“You had to pick the lamest game?”

Neptune winced.

“I was joking! Of course I was. Okay, how about…”

“I don’t think we’re in a game playing mood right now,” said Weiss softly, from the floor. Neptune withdrew from the pile like it had burned him.

“Oh, okay! Do you guys have any suggestions, then?”

Pyrrha yawned loudly, and Ren startled awake. 

“I think we’re just gonna lie here for a while…” said Weiss, voice rough and crackly.

Neptune looked at Sun, desperate. He only shrugged, then sat back down on the couch.

“Well, we’ll just… wait here awhile, I guess.”

**Hour 15**

Sun could not wait here for any more whiles.

“Not that this isn’t fun, but we’re gonna go do something else now,” he announced. 

The silence in the room broke into various ‘goodbye’s, and Sun and Neptune left, stepping over Nora, then Ren, then Ruby, then Pyrrha to get out of the room.

Nora didn’t blame them for leaving. It was getting actually pretty gloomy in here, with no one talking or anything. And if she had to wake up Ren one more time she was gonna…. Be really really mad!

Deciding she had to do something, she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position.

“Hey, guys!”

No response.

“Guys! The Vytal Festival is soon, right? Let’s go see if the fairgrounds are open!”

Jaune groaned, and Weiss threw a pillow over her face. Ren jerked awake. Again. She was gonna be really mad.

“Come on! It’ll be fun!”

After much prodding she managed to get them all to their feet, then out the door and down to the fairgrounds. The morning air did wonders on them, at least helping them stay conscious if not making them feel refreshed. 

“Nope. Not open,” said Jaune, pointing at the gigantic fence they were approaching.

“Nooooo!” Nora yelled, running up to the fence and shaking it dramatically. 

The fairgrounds were being set up inside, food stalls and games and vendor booths just waiting for people to come and celebrate the Vytal Festival. 

Nearest to the fence was a ring toss game, already set up and looking shiny and new. 

The others joined Nora at the fence, looking in at the excitement.

“Oooh, this is gonna be awesome once it’s done,” said Ruby, linking her fingers through the fence.

“I can’t wait to kick all of your butts at those games,” said Yang, leaning against the fence.

Ren and Blake both leaned against the fence too, but more because they were tired and their feet didn’t quite support them anymore. 

“Hey! You!” Nora shouted, waving her arm through the fence.

A man in an orange construction uniform was walking by, evidently on his break. His eyes darted around, desperate to find any excuse to not talk to the crazy kid shouting at him through the fence, but he found nothing, sighed, and approached her.

“Yes?”

“Can we play that game there? Let us in!”

The guy blinked. 

“…No.”

Nora frowned, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes.

“Pleeeease?”

The guy looked ticked off now, folding his arms and tapping his foot at her. It had no effect. He switched to a more direct approach.

“No! Now all of you get off the property before we tell your teachers!”

“Come on, Nora,” said Jaune, tugging on her arm nervously. “We don’t want to get in trouble with Glynda again.”

Nora pouted, turning away. 

“Well, this plan was a bust.”

Pyrrha smiled at her.

“It was nice to get outside, at least.”

They all began the long walk back to the school building, dragging their feet in the dirt. Yang yawned, and Weiss saw it, so she yawned, and then Ruby and Pyrrha yawned, and soon everyone was yawning, in a horrible irreversible yawn chain.

Weiss’ scroll pinged, and she reached down to check it. A few steps, and then a gasp.

“Ruby!” she hissed, passing her scroll over. 

Tilting her head in confusion, Ruby took it. 

“Oh no!”

In Weiss’ inbox was an official Schnee Dust Co. memo, stating that a warehouse’s security had been compromised, and that all passwords needed to be changed. The memo was sternly-worded, and it seemed really serious and scary.

“I’m so sorry, Weiss,” Ruby squeaked, handing the scroll back to her with shaking hands. Weiss fiddled with the scroll, biting her lip.

“This is really not good. I don’t know what I expected to happen, I… agh!”

Weiss’ boot caught on the ground and she tripped, sprawling spectacularly across the pavement.

‘Weiss! Oh no, are you okay?” asked Ruby, immediately squatting down beside her, shaking her a little.

“Yes, I’m fine… now stop…. Ouch.”

Ruby and Blake helped Weiss to her feet, and she assessed the damage, incredulous. Her knee was completely skinned, blood trailing down her shin and mixing with dirt from the path.

“How could this happen?” she groaned, bending over to get a better look.

“It must be because you’re so tired,” said Ren, producing a handkerchief out of seemingly nowhere. “Your aura can’t keep up with you until you get some proper rest.” 

He started wiping at her leg, cleaning the blood. Weiss winced.

“Well that’s probably not good.” 

Ren shrugged.

“Just get some rest, it should heal up in no time.”

“Thanks,” she said. She took a half-step and then winced again. “Augh…”

Without comment, Ruby ducked under Weiss’ arm, looping it around her shoulder and supporting her. Weiss nodded her thanks, leaning her weight onto her partner.

They started walking again, a little slower than before to accommodate Weiss and Ruby. Throughout the walk Ruby glanced nervously at Weiss, making sure she was okay, and shifted her weight around in order to take maximum strain off of her knee. It was actually a little embarrassing to Weiss; the injury really wasn’t all that bad.

“Weiss…” Ruby whispered, quietly so that only Weiss could hear. 

“Yeah?”

“I really am sorry about the warehouse thing. I don’t know what I was thinking, making you do something dumb like that.”

Weiss sighed, heart twinging with regret, and worry, and also something else, something nicer.

“It’ll work itself out.”

Ruby’s grip shifted, and she smiled, letting out a huge breath of air. It had really been weighing on her, apparently. Weiss realized, with a bit of confusion, just how much her opinion meant to Ruby. 

They made it back into the building, climbing the stairs with some difficulty. The common room was exactly how they’d left it, snacks and games scattered everywhere, with little nests of blankets and pillows where each of them had been resting. 

Ruby helped Weiss onto the couch, and Weiss blushed a bit, embarrassed at all the special attention. A few others checked to see if she was okay, but she waved them off, settling in again. Ruby went to sit on the floor, but Weiss stuck out her arm, barring access.

“There’s still room on the couch, you know.”

Ruby lit up, bouncing on her toes.

“You want me to sit next to you? Oooh, Weiss, we ARE best friends!”

Weiss frowned, turning away from her, but was still glad when she felt Ruby settle in beside her.

Secretly, silently, she thanked Ruby, for letting her feel like a kid again.

**Hour 16**

From somewhere to Pyrrha’s left, Jaune squeaked.

She glanced over towards him, knees pulled into her chest, head drooping onto them. Jaune was spread out on the floor, on his back with his arms outstretched, holding his scroll far away from him. He grimaced, face pale.

“Is something the matter?” Pyrrha asked.

“Our final grades from last semester are in,” said Jaune weakly. He brought his scroll back down towards his face, taking a deep breath.

“Ooooh, let me see!” said Nora, kicking a pillow out of the way and lying down on her stomach next to him. She pulled out her own scroll, tapping excitedly.

Pyrrha watched Jaune’s face with concern. She wanted him to do well, especially after all that she’d seen him accomplish lately. He was growing and learning faster than anyone she’d ever seen, with so much determination it made her chest swell with pride, and… well, we’ll stick with pride for now. 

Jaune winced, tapping the screen one final time. He flicked at his grades, reading them with intense focus. Finally, he sighed, laying his scroll on his chest with a weak smile.

“Well, I passed everything.”

Pyrrha grinned, poking him with her toe.

“Congratulations, Jaune! You just keep getting better. I knew you could do it.”

He gave her a wry smile, lifting his head a little.

“Aw, yes!” cheered Yang, from the other end of the room. “A+ with Glynda, and she says she ‘encourages my full participation in the Vytal Festival Tournament’. I told you so, Ruby.”

Ruby stuck out her tongue. 

“Well I got an A, okay? Look!”

She threw her scroll at Yang, who caught it with her forearms. She glanced at the screen, then ruffled Ruby’s hair.

“This is going straight up on the fridge,” she said.

“Augh, stop it. Don’t make fun of me,” said Ruby, flattening her hair with one hand.

“I’m not! I’m sending this to dad right away!”

Yang held the scroll in the air, sending it off while Ruby struggled.

“See? He’s gonna put it on the fridge for sure.”

Yang tossed Ruby’s scroll back.

“No fair! Now you have to send yours too…”

The two started wrestling, and Weiss moved over to Pyrrha, out of the way of their flailing limbs.

“So, Pyrrha. How did you do? I’m quite satisfied, personally. Straight As, of course!” said Weiss, examining her cuticles. She was quite obviously fishing for compliments, and Pyrrha had no problem obliging.

“That’s quite impressive, Weiss!”

She moved back to the home screen of her scroll, pushing her own straight-A grades out of the way. 

At her feet, Nora had stolen Ren’s scroll, comparing their grades loudly and critically.

Blake had put her scroll back down, leaning into a pillow. Her grades had been fine, but her tiredness was not doing well. Weiss noticed, directing a question mostly at her, but also to everyone.

“Since the new semester is starting soon, maybe we should study? Run through some practice questions?”

Jaune groaned. Beside him, Nora booed her.

“Augh, so boring,” said Ruby, collapsing onto the ground.

“Fine, I was just kidding anyway,” said Weiss, heat rising in her cheeks.

“It wouldn’t be so bad to quiz each other on combat stuff,” said Yang, staring at the ceiling.

“Hmmm…. I’ll accept it,” Nora decided.

Pyrrha prodded Jaune again.

“Here’s one you should know. Explain the ‘warrior’s stance’.”

Jaune groaned again, throwing an arm over his eyes.

“I’ve told you a million times, I can do warrior’s stance, it just doesn’t work with my fighting style.”

Pyrrha frowned.

“But if you’d just do it properly, it would be perfect for you…”

Nora interrupted, jumping up into the stance.

“Like this,” she said, holding it. As soon as everyone had seen her, she belly-flopped back onto the floor. 

With everyone lying down, they continued on, discussing tactics and going through vocabulary. It was, as Nora pointed out, incredibly nerdy, but it was also a really good time.

Ruby smiled as Ren answered Nora’s nineteenth question about semblance technique. Yang cut in with her own knowledge, and Pyrrha corrected them when she thought they needed it. Ruby could have easily cut in at any point, but mostly she just enjoyed watching her friends talk about something that they all loved so much. It was good, she supposed, to love what you do.

**Hour 17**

Yang stared at the fish.

The fish stared back with cold, dead eyes.

It was seriously creepy. 

“Is anyone gonna question the whole, raw, swordfish we’ve been served, or…?”

“Sh. Don’t question the fish,” said Nora, kicking her under the table.

“Swordfish is supposed to be good for you,” said Weiss, shrugging.

“I wish there were some kind of instructions or something telling us how to eat it, though,” said Jaune.

“…” said the fish, watching them all, staring.

There was a loud crack as Pyrrha broke Ren’s knife trying to cut off a slice of stale baguette. She’d already broken hers and Nora’s. She placed the shattered knife fragments into a neat pile, giving up on the baguette.

“Just eat your single apple and salad with three cherry tomatoes,” said Jaune quietly, patting her hand. She nodded, face sad and wistful.

There was a spectacular splashing sound as Ruby face-planted directly into her soup. Blake jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding getting tomato soup all over her shirt.

Ruby jolted back up, spluttering and dripping and looking generally miserable.

“Ah! I’m sorry guys, I… must have drifted off…”

She grabbed a napkin, scrubbing at her face and hair furiously.

Yang hooked an arm through Ruby’s, giving her a sisterly look.

“Let’s go upstairs and get you cleaned up, sis.”

Ruby stumbled to her feet with Yang’s help, and the two left the cafeteria with only minor stumbling. The lack of sleep had finally taken its toll on their youngest member, and it sent a chill down several spines. Who was next?

Nora glanced around at them all, arms crossed and foot tapping as they all nervously guzzled caffeine. Slumping forward, Blake spilled tea all down the front of her shirt.

Great.

**Hour 18**

At this point, Blake thought she might actually legitimately be hallucinating.

The ceiling definitely shouldn’t be moving like that. And tuna didn’t leap majestically upstream if that stream was the literal ceiling of the common room.

But Blake was so out of it she just wasn’t… quite… sure.

She lifted an arm up, waving her hand around in front of her face. The ceiling returned to normal, but now her hand was kind of melting, dripping downwards, and it freaked her out so much she tried to stand up, and then she fell sideways a bit, onto Jaune.

He let out a tiny “oof” sound that was actually kind of pathetic. It did wake Blake up just enough to apologize, though.

“Jaune?”

“Yeah?”

“Is anyone else awake?”

“Are we even awake?”

“I… don’t… remember…”

Blake fell onto her knees, then took up residence on the floor again, sprawled next to some limbs she thought might belong to Weiss.

There was some light snoring next to her, so she turned to face it.

Yes, it was Weiss. But her face was kind of rippling in the same way the ceiling had been earlier. Blake didn’t like this. She definitely didn’t like this. She didn’t need any more nightmare fuel in her life right now, thank you very much.

She shoved a pillow over her head, ready to drop out of this thing and get some sleep if it killed her.

And with Nora on the case, it just might kill her.

**Hour 19**

“Watch it!” Weiss snapped, pulling her mug of coffee out of the way just in time. Ruby’s foot appeared in its spot seconds later, then skidded backwards on the coffee table as her sock fought for purchase. She ended up lightly kicking Blake in the arm.

Blake didn’t even react, just continued cradling her tea, hunched over the steam. It turns out everyone was going to fight against her sleeping, so she’d taken to inhaling caffeine and snapping at anyone who tried to talk to her.

“Oops, sorry guys,” said Ruby. “I didn’t mean to…”

Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. 

“I just… wanted to win this parkour battle…”

Weiss scoffed, bringing her feet up on the chair and curling into a ball around her coffee.

“Keep your ridiculous antics away from me, please.”

A tear rolled down Ruby’s cheek. The tiredness had made her incredibly emotional, and Weiss didn’t care. There was anger bubbling inside her, just a few more annoying things from spilling over.

“Hmmm, that was a good try, but I think Yang’s move was way cooler,” said Nora, holding up eight fingers from the edge of the room. Everyone else was also pressed against the wall, but cowering in fear.

“Yes!” shouted Yang, jumping down from the top of the book case. She held up her arms in a perfect landing pose.

“So… does this mean Yang wins? Can we stop doing this now?” asked Jaune, still rubbing his eye from where Yang’s earlier parkour stunt had ended up giving him an elbow to the face. In his younger days, this definitely would have meant a black eye. Luckily aura would be taking care of this one soon. Any time now… as soon as he got some rest…

“No! Go again!” commanded Nora, crossing her arms.

Ruby burst into tears.

**Hour 20**

“Ren, I’m falling apart!” complained Nora. She wiggled around, the sheet she was tightly wrapped in beginning to unravel from her body. “Seeee?”

Ren sighed, then got back to work tucking the sheet in. Nora jumped up and down, making it incredibly difficult.

“Boooo… hurry up!” taunted Yang, from the other end of the room. Jaune grinned, hands on his hips in pride at his own wrapping work. Ruby, Pyrrha, Blake, and Weiss sat on the ground, fear in their eyes.

“Okay, I think you’re ready,” said Ren, sighing. This was definitely a terrible idea.

“Yes!” said Nora, bouncing again, her head and toes the only things not wrapped in a sheet. “Okay, threetwoonego!”

Yang started hopping towards the centre of the room, cackling wildly. Nora jumped forward once and then slipped on the floor, falling face first onto the carpet.

“Nora! Are you okay?” asked Ren, rolling her over. Her cheek was a little scraped up, and he frowned.

“Ren! Quick, roll me over to her!” shouted Nora, spitting hair out of her mouth.

Ren assessed the situation.

“But you’re hurt.”

Nora’s face grew serious. It looked odd on her, an expression he hadn’t seen in years.

“I need to win this for us.”

Ren nodded solemnly, then stood, rolling Nora towards Yang with his foot. Once she was deposited unceremoniously at Yang’s feet, he backed up and let them have at it.

“How am I supposed to sheet wrestle you from all the way down there?” asked Yang, staring down at Nora with a frown.

“I’ll bite you!” cried Nora, rolling back and forth slightly in an attempt to get at her ankles.

“Not a chance!”

Yang threw herself to the ground, doing her best to land on the padding of the sheet instead of her skull. She rolled towards Nora, thrashing around.

The two squirmed like that for a while, rolling over and around each other until Yang came unravelled.

“Yang’s sheet fell off!” announced Ruby, slapping her palm on the ground. “I guess… does that mean Nora wins the match?”

Nora shouted out in joy.

“Yes! I did it! Take THAT!”

She wiggled around some more, lying on her left side with some hair in her mouth. She spit it out as best she could, then continued cheering as Yang rolled away to unravel herself, then stood up and brushed herself off. Ruby gave her leg a reassuring pat.

“Okay, that was fun. Now someone just has to unwrap me,” said Nora, grinning.

No one moved. Weiss and Blake shared a look.

“Guys?”

**Hour 21**

Pyrrha lay on the ground, hands folded over her stomach, and felt as the guilt rolled in. All of her friends were lying down now, in various states of alertness, occasionally saying things to one another, mostly to make sure everyone was still awake. A reality show droned on on the television.

Pyrrha knew she should, technically, be the least tired of them all. She’d slept for many hours more than the others had, but the fatigue was really starting to get to her. 

She looked upward, forehead lightly bonking into the top of Nora’s head. Her teammate had finally, miraculously, crashed, and was lying on the floor catatonically, the only indication of her being awake the occasional shouts aimed at Ren. 

Pyrrha sighed, feeling her eyes drooping closed and forcing herself awake by jiggling her leg a little. It was an incredibly unpleasant feeling, being halfway between sleeping and being awake. She knew that she couldn’t be the first one to sleep, though. Not since she was so well-rested compared to the others. Not with the guilt gnawing at her.

She decided an apology wouldn’t get her anywhere. Her apologies had started wearing thin on Weiss, who barked back an “it’s fine!” every time she opened her mouth.

Instead, she tried to keep Nora talking.

“Nora?” she asked.

“Hm?”

“The goal of this – it was to stay awake for twenty-four hours, right?”

“Yep.”

Pyrrha sighed.

“Well, the rest of you have been awake for much longer than that. Assuming you all woke up around eight or nine yesterday, earlier for you of course, you’ve all already been awake for longer than twenty-four hours. The only one who still needs to stay awake is me, really.”

“Oh,” Nora said, softly. Pyrrha stopped speaking, letting Nora stay with that idea for a while. Pyrrha got the feeling she was finally realizing why this was a bad plan. It was a harsh reality for her to face.

“What I’m saying, is, if the rest of you want to sleep, I can stay awake by myself for a few more hours,” said Pyrrha, fiddling with the ends of her hair self-consciously.

“Nah, that’s dumb,” said Nora. Pyrrha felt her shaking her head from where their heads were pressed together.

“Agreed,” said Jaune, weakly, from the corner. “We’re not leaving you now.”

There was movement from the couch as Yang dropped down a single, sad, thumbs-up.  
Pyrrha’s heart swelled up with love for these people.

“I… honestly, I don’t mind…”

“Pyrrha,” Ren interrupted. “This is happening.”

His voice was slow and crackly.

Pyrrha pulled her blanket up to her cheeks, hiding a smile. 

“None of it matters anymore, anyway…” said Blake, vaguely.

Ruby snored, and Weiss poked at her until she jolted awake. The room fell into quiet again, as a fight broke out on the TV. Pyrrha watched it for a while, Yang cracking jokes about it every so often, just to make Ruby giggle.

“Thank you all,” said Pyrrha, so softly she was sure no one heard.

“You’re welcome,” whispered Nora, from above. She arched her back so they were looking each other in the eyes, then grinned, poking Pyrrha’s nose.

“Boop.”

**Hour 22**

“Ruby… are you awake?”

“Y…yeah.”

“Ren… are you awake?”

“Hm.”

“Yang… are you awake?”

“Somehow.”

“Jaune… are you awake?”

…

“Jaune?”

“Jaune, wake up!”

“Sn… huh?!”

“You fell asleep!”

“Ook…”

Nora had sunken away from conversation, into nothing but keeping everyone awake. It was a really boring job, but someone had to do it.

The TV droned on, a Vale couple complaining about the renovations on their house not being done. There was a soft snoring from somewhere in the room. Nora tried to pinpoint who it was, but couldn’t quite do it.

Boring, boring… she needed to think of something else… it was too boring.

Her eyes were so heavy.

Her mouth lulled open, halfway to saying another name. 

She felt so heavy, and gross, and bored. Not tired, though. No way.

Nora Valkyrie was never tired…

Never… 

Tired….

…

Tired….

**Hour 23**

“So, who do you think is going to win?” asked Velvet, grinning at her friend. 

“Jade, of course,” said Coco, smirking back. “No one else has half that style.”

Velvet laughed, hand instinctively brushing her camera.

“I guess we’ll see. It’s on at 6:15, right? We’ve still got a little bit of t… oh.”

Velvet paused in the door to the common room, Coco peeking over her shoulder.

“What… what happened in here?” 

Coco took a step forward, assessing the situation with her hands on her hips.

“Busy day… I guess?”

Velvet smiled softly, scanning the room.

On the couch of the common room, Weiss was perfectly curled up asleep, lying down. She looked quite peaceful in sleep, lips parted slightly and chest rising and falling evenly. 

Next to her, Blake sat up, leaning backwards into the corner of the couch and indisputably asleep also. Her arms had fallen into her lap, and her head lulled to the side.

In the small space beside her were a pair of legs that belonged to Yang, who had somehow fallen asleep in this incredibly uncomfortable position, legs hooked up next to Blake and the rest of her lying on her back on the floor, mouth wide open and arms spread out wide.

Ruby was curled into her, rather sweetly cuddling her sister. She looked innocent as always, young and small and completely against the image of a huntress most people would hold in their minds. Velvet knew better than to judge her for this, though. 

Along the length of the couch, Ren of team JNPR was completely face-down, stretched out and dead-looking. Velvet was surprised he could breathe at all, but she saw his chest moving and smiled at the odd position.

Jaune was slumped against the arm of the couch, and was definitely the source of the light snoring that could be heard from the pack of them. In his lap, Pyrrha was fast asleep against a pillow that definitely appeared to have slid down from where she was sitting up. 

Nora absolutely looked the most comfortable of them all, nestled in between Ruby, Ren, and Pyrrha with several pillows and a blanket. She smiled in her sleep.

“Erm, what do you say we go watch this back at the dorm?” asked Velvet, folding her arms and smiling softly at the first years. Coco frowned, peering at them all over the top of her sunglasses.

“Yeah, we’ll let the kids sleep.”

Velvet turned around, trying to make as little noise as possible with her shoes on the hall floor. 

“I’ll see if Yatsu has any popcorn left!” she said, rabbit ears twitching in excitement.

Coco took one last look at the sleeping first years. Something about it warmed her heart. 

“Sounds good to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was my project for the RWBY Big Bang on tumblr! You can see the amazing art based on it by reekachuichooseyou.   
> Also thank you to ao3's own phoenixdown for reading this obscenely long thing and giving me suggestions. Everyone please check out her fics, she's insanely talented.  
> So yeah, this ended up being super long but goddammit, I just need these kids to be happy.


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